This is not a knowledge test, but I would rather not influence any opinions by saying what I notice.

This is a piece I have been familiar with for over 25 years and it always surprises me. I wonder, in your opinion, when was it written and by whom? It is not modern, of course, neither is it written in imitation of any one composer.

The recording comes from a LP which I recorded on tape maybe 20 years ago and recently transferred to CD from the tape. At the time I did not know better and left the microphone attached. Picture my surprise when I heard some Bortkiewicz piano music in the background as well as a little girl talking! These noises hve been removed now that I remastered the whole, taking care also of tape hiss.

_________________Richard Willmer"Please do not shoot the pianistHe is doing his best."Oscar Wilde: Impressions of America: Leadville

I've listened to it several times and even tried the IMSLP melody search (which is FESTIVE). I didn't respond because it doesn't register in my mind as anything that I have heard nor could I find anything that remotely resembles the melody.

It is obviously a melody with a contrapuntal duet accompaniement. It is Baroque (I would say before Bach. but not early Baroque, so I would say mid to late Baroque -- the late being before Bach (say 1690 or before). It seems German. I want to say Pachelbel, but that is not sitting right with me.

Never heard this tune. Somehow it sounds to me like a baroque imitation by somebody only moderately talented. It's a bit clumsy and trite here and there, doesn't sound like something a real baroque organ composer like Buxtehude or Pachelbel would write. Even the organ pieces I know by lesser composers are way better than this.I could be totally wrong - it's just a hunch.

This is the part that amazed me the first time I heard it: It was written by a not by an XVII-XVIII century German but by a Spaniard who seems to have flourished at the very end of the XV and early XVI centuty: Juan de Segovia. It is a case of an imitation before the original.

The Buzzing register is characteristic of Spanish organs and I would have thought it was a giveaway.

The organist is Paul Bernard and it comes from an LP "Sounds of XVI Century Spain", which does not seem to have been released on CD, though I did come across someone in the US who is selling a second hand copy . The LP from which I took this is my brother's and I do not know where it is now nor do I remember if it said anything about this composer.

Anyway, your answers reflect exacly my impressions: this is why I made it a mystery.

_________________Richard Willmer"Please do not shoot the pianistHe is doing his best."Oscar Wilde: Impressions of America: Leadville

As a closing remark I would add a violin concerto by the Tuscan Pietro Nardini (1722-1793), which also never ceases to amaze me. The fisrt time I heard it on the Radio I thought the announcer had made a mistake and that in reality a third Mendelssohn concerto had been found!

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